europabarbarorumfandomcom-20200214-history
Gaizoskezantes (Celtiberian Spearmen)
Gaizoskezantes spearmen are middle-class tribesmen, strong enough to hold their own on the battlefield. Description 'Straight Born' No longer can disputes be settled by duels alone. Raids may bring wealth and new cattle, but what use are cattle when you have no land on which to graze them? Already the armies of Karthadistim have laid claim to the southern cities and the Hellenes have planted their emporia upon the coasts. If we are to expand and defend our lands, it cannot be done by the champions and nobles alone. Fortunately, we Areuakoi being the martial people that we are, there is no shortage of men who are willing to swell the ranks and bolster our armies. Do not be fooled, however, these men are not simple levies. Although they may be potters, cobblers and farmers when not called to arms, this should not give one reason to dismiss their potential as warriors. The spirit of battle flows in the blood of every citizen of the Areuakoi. Even in the wombs of our women, fertile as the soil of our lands, grow wolves and lynx; children more formidable than any others born into this world. The Gaizoskezantesmay not have the blue blood of their comrades, nor the swords and high-crested helmets, but they will still hold the line when asked, they will still pepper the enemy with javelins and run down and trample all those who seek to put a yoke on our people. Historically, as the Keltiberoi population and the social complexity of Keltiberoi society increased with the rise of the oppida, so too did the size of Keltiberoi armies. Historical accounts of the size of these late Keltiberoi armies provide numbers comparable to those of the armies being fielded by Roma and Karthadastim. At Carabis in 188 BC, for example, the Keltiberoi fielded 20,000 men, whilst Karos, the leader of the Areuakoi and Segendenses, commanded 20,000 infantry and 5,000 horse. Not even the richest Keltiberoi oppidum could hope to field enough champions to make up such number. Instead, increasing numbers of warriors were drawn from the middle and lower classes of Keltiberoi society. The cemeteries of this period reflect this demographic change. Whereas in previous periods of the Keltiberoi archaeological record, warrior graves had accounted for, on average, 1% of those buried there, during this period in some cemeteries warrior graves account for as many as 44% of those interred. Despite the effects of urbanisation, Keltiberoi armies were not citizen armies like those of the Hellenes and Romani. Weapons and armour from this period show no signs of standardisation, and although capable of siege warfare and winter campaigning, discipline was lacking, as shown by the events following the defeat of Mummius' army by the Lusotannan Kaisaros. The command structure likewise remained one of familial ties and personal loyalties, rather than a formalised general staff. These later Keltiberoi warriors, unlike the citizen armies of the Mediterranean, were primarily light infantrymen, ill suited to facing the legions in pitched battle; the graves of many of these warriors tend not to contain helmets, pectoral plates or the large embossed shields of preceding periods. Despite these limitations, these enlarged Keltiberoi armies proved adept at scorched earth and guerrilla tactics, and even operations at night. Many a Roman met his death at the hands of a Keltiberoi ambush and even Scipio Aemilianus, the man who destroyed the Areuakoi capital of Numantia, found himself the victim of an ambush. The shield type with which this unit, and several other EBII Keltiberoi and Iberian units, is equipped is known as the caetra, and deserves a special note here. Diodorus describes the use of these shields by Keltiberoi warriors saying that "...other use a round shield of the kind more familiar in the Greek world" (Hist. 5.33). The sometimes beautifully decorated bronze shield bosses of caetra appear in the Keltiberoi funerary record from c. 500 BC until the Romani conquest. Caetra are also depicted on several stone sculptures, such as the infantryman from Castro di Lezenbo, Portugal and the mounted warrior from Porcuna, Spain as well as ceramics from the Areuakoi capital Numantia and metalwork from El Amarejo, Spain. Caetra were unlikely to have been much use in protracted melee, their small size being ill suited to absorbing heavy blows and deflecting missiles. Instead, they were likely used either in duels or to allow their owner sufficient speed and mobility to effect deadly ambushes. Category:Units Category:Units available only in EB2 Category:Arevaci